Autonomous vehicles are becoming more and more common.  Self-driving cars seem like a thing of the future -- a vehicle driving itself and communicating with the other cars around it to get you where you need to go. For a long time, self-driving cars were purely science fiction, but not anymore. While the technology is still relatively new, it has been implemented successfully in many different cases. While a fully reliable autonomous vehicle is still some time out, cars already on the market come with driverless technology, albeit less sophisticated versions, like limited autopilot and self-parking vehicles.  Some specific examples include Tesla with its autopilot driving technology or Google with its self-driving vehicle development company, Waymo. While those are just some of the more prominent examples, most—if not all—major car manufacturers in the United States have begun research and development and even implementation of self-driving technologies in their vehicles. Autonomous…

As Fox 5 Atlanta reports, street racing near Atlanta isn’t a revolutionary criminal activity, but police may have found a way to stop these dangerous stunts from happening altogether. The city’s interim chief of police has offered his support to place sand-filled barriers along intersections where street racing stunts are likely to occur. Identifying the areas in need of such barricades has yet to prove difficult. "There is no scientific method to what we are doing," Commissioner Josh Rowan says. "Where we see the black circles [burned rubber from stunt-inspired braking] we will put down barriers." What’s disturbing is how even though police are actively locking up dozens of street racing drivers and impounding their “muscle” cars, new drivers seem eager to step into their place regularly, despite almost certainly knowing the legal risk over and above the risk of a car accident. And the legal risks are undoubtedly real.…

On February 1, 2020, two people were killed in a multivehicle accident on an Atlanta-area interstate. The crash involved a tractor-trailer, and it sparked a large fire that produced flames rising 30 feet high. The fire spread across all lanes of traffic, leaving some drivers stuck at a standstill for more than two hours – and others to suffer in the fiery blaze. According to NBC News, “firefighters encountered an inferno as the first crews arrived on the scene [of the auto accident], and subsequent explosions were seen and heard as the fuel ignited.” The accident on I-85 involved multiple vehicles and left two individuals with fatal injuries. Several others were injured, and numerous others suffered property damage to their vehicles. Businesses along nearby Dawson Boulevard were evacuated as a precaution due to their vicinity to the incident, a major headache for Atlanta area commuters. Trucking Companies, Insurance Agencies, and Law…

A good Samaritan's attempt to render aid to the victims of a hit-and-run went awry, and at first glance, the story sounds like a tragic scene from a book or movie. An ongoing investigation into two Georgia car wrecks reveals the best and worst of human nature. After narrowly escaping death, a man was killed seconds later. According to witnesses and police, a 23-year-old man was driving a vehicle containing two passengers. They were struck by another vehicle, the driver of which fled the scene. A good Samaritan stopped to help and told the victim and his passengers to get out of their disabled vehicle, which was in the roadway, and to get into hers to safely wait for help. As the victim was making his way into the kind woman's vehicle, another car struck him and one of the vehicles stopped in the road. The 23-year-old man was killed as the…

There are numerous distractions for a driver while on the road. While the most obvious these days is cellphone usage, passengers, roadside commotion, or even the driver's own thoughts can take focus away from the road. That loss of concentration on driving can lead to a fatal car accident or one with varying degrees of injury. A 33-year-old man from Hall County was recently killed in a mid-morning fatal car accident. The man was headed west in his Ford Focus when a Dodge Ram pickup traveling east crossed over the center lane. The two vehicles collided head-on. When Georgia State Patrol troopers arrived on the scene, they found the driver of the Ford had died from blunt force trauma caused by the impact. The pickup truck had rolled over and landed upside down. The driver was injured and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. The state's specialized reconstruction team…

A needless death at any age is devastating, but to lose a teenager because of the negligence of another person is indescribable. Many family members who have lost a child, parent, or spouse, as a result, have filed a wrongful death lawsuit, in part, to hold the negligent individual responsible for his or her actions. A Georgia family will have the option to file a wrongful death lawsuit after the death of their 17-year-old son. According to information in police reports, a 17-year-old driver was alarming his three passengers as he was driving erratically down the road. He crashed into a tree after losing control of the vehicle. The crash caused flames to erupt, engulfing the entire vehicle. A 911 call was made, but dispatchers had difficulty determining where the vehicle was located. The passenger in the front was killed in the crash, and the other two in the back seat…

Vehicular accidents do not only happen within the confines of the vehicle. Pedestrians or bystanders on the side of the road are at risk when a driver's negligence causes a car accident. A former member of the police department of a Georgia town recently pleaded guilty after causing a car accident that injured an 18-year-old man and killed his 16-year-old cousin as they were occupying a part of a sidewalk. In his duty as a police officer, the man was responding to the call of an accident, driving at a speed close to 100 mph. He pulled over to the center lane in an effort to pass a car just ahead of him, but that car also pulled into the center lane in an effort to get out of the way of the police car. As the officer swerved to avoid crashing into the car, he lost control of his patrol…

With overly aggressive drivers, drivers who have been drinking, and drivers who are distracted -- whether by cell phones or other factors -- people are injured in wrecks every day. While the use of a seat belt is a legal requirement, it may not always be enough to escape severe injury in a car accident. After a recent car accident, a 5-year-old child has been admitted into a Georgia hospital, with his condition listed as critical. Police reports state a driver approached an intersection and hit a car that was stopped for a red light, causing that car to hit another vehicle. The driver kept going through the intersection, hitting yet another vehicle. The injured child was not responsive when found, and witnesses to the collisions were able to start CPR before an ambulance reached the scene. The driver responsible for the collisions left her vehicle and began running in…

Hundreds of news sources all over the country have daily reports of vehicular accidents. Sometimes an SUV, 18-wheeler, or car accident may just be a fender-bender with minor or no injuries. But another can be catastrophic, adversely impacting a number of people. A Georgia woman died in a recent car accident, and the person believed responsible has been arrested. The 41-year-old woman was just one of several passengers in a car as it was traveling on Interstate 85. A report stated the driver of the car lost control of the vehicle when she was changing lanes ahead of a semitrailer. The car came to a stop in a lane of traffic and was struck by the tractor-trailer. The truck driver tried to stop but was unable to avoid hitting the door on the rear passenger side. The impact of the collision killed the woman and injured three other passengers. All…

There are many hazards on the road that drivers cannot control, like weather or construction. However, many accidents are not caused by hazards like these. They are caused by distracted driving. One such accident caused the death of a Georgia county sheriff officer's grandchild. The four-year-old girl died in an accident that occurred earlier this month. She was in the car with her mother and younger brother when the car was struck from behind by another vehicle. When authorities arrived on the scene, which included the child's grandfather, the little girl was pulled from the vehicle and CPR was administered. After the accident, the driver of the second vehicle told authorities that he had dropped a bottle and his phone into the floorboard of his car and was attempting to reach for them when he crashed into the vehicle carrying the mother and her children. Unfortunately, the child did not…